Gov. Christie rejects invitation to tour Trenton High

The Republican governor said at a press conference Wednesday he has “no current plans” to see firsthand the deplorable conditions at Trenton High School, a building documented to contain mold, leaks and a rodent infestation.

“Marc Larkins is head of the Schools Development Authority who is responsible for those things,” Christie said, adding he has complete trust and faith in him. “I see no need at the moment for me to go and visit in person.”

Christie’s statement immediately led to a brass-knuckle response from local legislatures, who have fought for improvements to be made to the school, and most recently appeared before the New Jersey Board of Education to vent concerns.

“He’s more interested in boardwalk planks than educating the next generation,” Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) said, referencing the Seaside Heights fire last week. “This is an investment by the state in the state capital, which he is just completely indifferent toward.”

Gusciora, who was called “numbnuts” by Christie for comparing him to Govs. Lester Maddox and George Wallace, has likened the governor to another official after he refused accept the invite.

The assemblyman says Christie’s actions resemble former Maryland Gov. Spiro Agnew, who was famously quoted calling liberals “nattering nabobs of negativism” and for saying “If you’ve seen one city slum, you’ve seen them all.”

“It’s just this complete indifference to the plight of urban poor and Supreme Court decisions that have specifically said that the state is responsible for school facilities in the most urban poor reaches of the state,” Gusciora said.

That sentiment was shared by Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer/Hunterdon), who said she wasn’t surprised Christie will not tour the high school.

“He’s been made aware of this high school for the last couple of years and he hasn’t seen fit to protect our children yet,” Watson Coleman. “This is just a further illustration of who’s important, who isn’t important to the governor.”

Sen. Shirley K. Turner (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) said Christie is “tone deaf” when it comes to Trenton.

“I find it interesting he never seems to miss an opportunity to go to the Shore,” the state senator said. “We have a disaster right here in the city of Trenton, not just with the high school, but also in terms of lack of police and public safety. I would think that he would devote the same kind of time and attention to what’s in his own backyard.”

At the end of July, the Christie administration announced plans to address the facility deficiencies starting with a design proposal, but construction isn’t expected to begin until next summer.

Since that time, the auditorium was closed for structural unsoundness and conditions have continued to worsen to the point that the city board of education sued the state SDA, which oversees construction projects, for failure to act on repairs to the 80-year-old school.

“(Larkins) is investing in the SDA a significant amount of money for repairs at Trenton Central High School,” Christie said. “They’ll do the things that they think they need to do for the funds that have been allocated to them by the legislature.”

In striking contrast to Christie, the assembly members have no praise for the SDA.

“Mark Larkins has been one of the more incompetent bureaucrats that I have run across in my dozen years in elective office,” Gusciora said. “He’s just cynically said that the only thing that he’s giving Trenton is pre-design services. I think that it’s disgusting that he would be dismissive of the high school’s needs by just saying we’ll give you pre-design services at some future date.”

Watson Coleman believes Christie controls the SDA.

“He’s the governor and he’s the one that says the buck stops there,” she said. “To suggest he has faith in the SDA, I guess because the SDA is doing that which he tells it to do.”

Last week, Nicholas Cirillo, a social studies teacher at Trenton Central High School, testified before the state BOE that the conditions are “so vile that it would make any decent human being vomit.”

Gusciora said he was unsure if Christie read the teacher’s comments before the governor stated the boardwalk fire last week wanted to make him “throw up.”

“I think the governor would be violently ill if he saw Trenton High School,” the assemblyman said.

Watson Coleman said the fire was very unfortunate, but there are other issues that need the governor’s attention.

“We got a school in the city of Trenton that is both dangerous and unhealthy and he can’t see fit to go around the corner,” the assemblywoman said. “For people that live in urban communities or even just think that each child should have access to a quality education and a state of the art 21st century school, needs to know he’s not the governor for them.”